Oct 22, 2012

Some churches shorten services

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Struggling with shrinking attendance, some
churches are shortening their traditional Sunday service, promising to
get a generation with limited attention spans out the door in as little
as 30 minutes.

These abbreviated ceremonies are aimed at luring back the enormous
numbers of young people who avoid Sundays at church. With distractions
such as the Internet and a weak connection to the faith of their
childhoods, many are steering clear, to the dismay of religious leaders
who desperately want them back.

"We are increasingly aware of the time pressures on families, and
they have been telling us that the traditional service is too long,"
said the Rev. Chip Stokes of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Delray
Beach, Fla. "We recognize that things are changing, and we have to be
more adaptive without losing our core."

St. Paul's recently introduced a 30-minute service designed for
children up to fourth grade and their parents as an alternative to the
church's 90-minute traditional service. Stokes said he is thrilled with
attendance: About 40 parents and children have attended each week since
the service started in September. ...

This comment got my attention.

But not everyone supports the trend.

"The Lord gives us 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Karen
Turnbull of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach. "And
he's asking us for only one hour to come to church."

Uh, I don't think that was God asking. I think that was your tradition talking. The idea that if our one hour service was good enough for Peter and Paul, then it is good enough for us, is misguided. I doubt First Century Christians would recognize much of what we call traditional worship. I'm not making a case one way or the other for shorter services but let's not confuse "the way we've always done it" for a biblical mandate.

The church I attend has a slightly abbreviated service at 8:00 am that is 45 minutes long instead of one hour. I've wondered how it would work to have a couple of 30 minute services at times during the week other than on Sunday morning.

Does your congregation have shorter services? Short services outside of Sunday morning? What are the benefits and downsides of going with shorter services?

Comments

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Maike,
Interesting post--and thank you, thank you, thank you for reminding us that not all tradtions are Biblical and not all that is Biblical has become a tradition. Fred Holper who used to teach Worship at McCormick Seminary used to warn people about talking too knowingly about "traditional" worship as the Presbyterian Church has at least 18 different worship traditions! It seems to me that simply shortening the service to get folks to come to worship is at least in part missing the point. There are some churches that don't sweat the time issue (and I would bet run over an hour) who do well with young people. To be sure, people are busy, but people also need to encounter the gospel in their own language--which is not only about worshipping in English, Spanish or Chinese, but in cultural languages, which may include technology, styles of music, mindsets, time of day, and on and on. I wonder how much the impulse to shorten worship is a way to avoid the deeper conversation of culture--both within and outside of the church--a "maybe we don't need to change and they will like us if we make it less time consuming." As always, thanks!
Dan

Dan, one of he things I've been thinking about is what if we had a short service together with a sit down meal each week? I know Korean churches that do this. I know our knowledge of First Century worship is sketchy but it appears to me to be more about table fellowship than about people gathered in rows watching events. Why not have paid staff that handle the food preparation as part of the worship experience?

I'm not suggesting this as some Platonic ideal model but I do wonder if a shorter service combined with other elements we have not traditionally thought of as part of the gathering experience might be needed.

Mike,
Yes, I like your suggestion. But what your are putting forward is not the shortening of worship but a recasting of it. This is worship that is connecting in different ways, satisfying the need for fellowship and making worship sensory--both of which were largely absent in "traditional" Protestant worship and which would probably be missing from a shortened service. And instead of a meal, how about a bike ride or community gardening, or tutoring, or a thousand other things. In your suggestion, it is not a meal and a short service, but a worship experience that includes a meal--or maybe its a meal that includes worship. It is ideas like yours that give the church a future--not doing more of what we already do that isn't very effective only now doing it shorter.
Dan